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Chapter 78: The Inner Guide

But this technique will need a grounding of your mind, a deep innocence. There are many techniques which are simple, the simplest possible: just a saying, “Be this one” - just a hint. But it must have been said by the master in a certain moment. “Be this one” cannot always be said. It must have been said in a certain tuning, when the disciple was totally one with the master, or totally with the universe, merged. Then the master says, “Be this one” - and suddenly the focus will change and the last part of the ego will dissolve.

These methods worked in the past but now it is difficult, very difficult, because you are so calculating, you are so clever. And being clever is just against being innocent. You are so calculating, you know too much arithmetic. This calculation goes on and on in the mind: whatsoever you do, it is always calculated, planned. You are never innocent, never open, receptive; you believe too much in yourself. Hence you go on missing. These methods won’t be helpful for you unless you prepare. That preparation can be very long, and you are very impatient.

This age is basically the most impatient age that has ever happened on this earth. Everyone is impatient, everyone is too time-conscious, and everyone wants to do everything immediately. Not that it cannot be done - it can be done immediately. But with such time-consciousness it is impossible. People come to me and they say that they have come only for one day. The next day they are going to Sai Baba, and after meeting him they will go to Rishikesh, and then they will go somewhere else. Then they return frustrated and they think there is nothing India can give. It is not a question of whether India can give something or not, the question is always whether you can receive it or not. You are in such a hurry and you want something immediately. Just like instant coffee, you think of instant meditation, instant nirvana. It is not possible. Nirvana cannot be packed, cannot be made instant. Not that it is impossible to make it instant, it can become instant - but it can become instant only with the mind which is not after the instant. That’s the problem. It can become instant. Immediately, this moment, it can happen. Not even a single moment is needed. But only to one who is relaxed about time completely, to one who can wait for infinity - for him it will happen instantly.

This looks paradoxical but this is the case. If you can wait for eternity, you will not need to wait at all. But if you cannot wait for even a single moment, you will have to wait for eternity. You will have to wait because the mind which says, “Let it happen immediately,” is a mind which has already moved from the moment. It is running, it is standing nowhere, it is just on the move. A mind which is on the move, on the way, cannot be innocent.

You may not be aware of it but innocent people are always without time-consciousness. Time lingers slowly. There is no hurry to go anywhere, they are not running. They are enjoying moment to moment. They are chewing each moment. And each moment has its own ecstasy to deliver. But you are in such a hurry that it cannot be delivered. While you are here, your hands are in the future, your mind is in the future - you will miss this moment. And this will be always the case; you will always miss the now. And now is the only time! The future is false, the past is just memory. The past is no more, the future is yet to be - and all that ever happens is the now. Now is the only time.